Tuesday, 16 February, 2016

Seattle, WA – The Seattle Symphony’s recording of Dutilleux’s Violin Concerto, L’arbre des songeswith violinist Augustin Hadelich has just won a 2016 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. This recording is part of a three-disc, multi-year recording project on Seattle Symphony Media, the orchestra’s in-house record label. The disc features live performances of Symphony No. 2 and Métaboles, and was also nominated for Best Orchestral Performance and Best Engineered Album for the 2016 Grammys. The third and final recording, along with a commemorative box set of all three recordings, will be released later in August in commemoration of Dutilleux’s 100th anniversary.

Since the start of his tenure as Music Director, Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony have embarked on an in-depth survey of orchestral works by Henri Dutilleux, both in concert and the recording studio.The first volume in this recording project, released in March 2014, was hailed by The New York Times as a “Gorgeous, authoritative collection” and received three Grammy nominations in 2015 for Best Orchestral Performance, Best Classical Instrumental Solo by Xavier Phillips and Best Engineered Album.

To obtain a physical or digital review copy of either release, or other information on Seattle Symphony Media, please contact You You Xia at youyou.xia@seattlesymphony.org.

Recorded in the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium, Benaroya Hall, Seattle, Washington. Métaboles was recorded live in concert on September 25, 27 and 28, 2014.

L’arbre des songes was recorded on November 4 and 7, 2014.

Symphony No. 2, Le double was recorded live in concert on June 5 and 7, 2014.

Seattle Symphony Media recordings are also available in 96k 24-bit high resolution and 5.1 surround sound formats.

The Seattle Symphony is grateful to Joan Watjen for her generous support of Seattle Symphony Media CDs in memory of her husband Craig.

The performances ofMétaboleswere presented as part of the Delta Air Lines Masterworks Season and the performance on September 28 was sponsored by Microsoft.

The June 5 performance of Symphony No. 2,Le doublewas sponsored by Delta Air Lines.

About Augustin Hadelich

Continuing to astonish audiences with his phenomenal technique, poetic sensitivity, and gorgeous tone, Augustin Hadelich has established himself as one of the great violinists of his generation. His remarkable consistency throughout the repertoire, from Paganini to Adès, is seldom encountered in a single artist. Highlights of the 2015/2016 season include debuts with the Chicago Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, and the Finnish Radio Orchestra, as well as return performances with the London Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the symphonies of Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Louisville, Milwaukee, New Jersey, Oregon, Seattle, Utah, and Vancouver. Other projects include a return to the Wigmore Hall in London, a recording with the London Philharmonic, a residency with the Bournemouth Symphony, and numerous recital appearances in Germany. Festival appearances include Mr. Hadelich’s 2015 debuts at Ravinia and the Grand Teton Music Festival, as well as return engagements at Aspen and Bravo! Vail Valley. He has also performed at Blossom, Britt, Chautauqua, Eastern Music Festival, the Hollywood Bowl, Marlboro, and Tanglewood.

The 2006 Gold Medalist of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, Augustin Hadelich is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant (2009), a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in the UK (2011), and Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award (2012). Most recently, he has been named winner of the inaugural Warner Music Prize (2015). In addition, his recent recording of the Dutilleux violin concerto, “L’arbre des songes,” with the Seattle Symphony under Ludovic Morlot (Seattle Symphony MEDIA) was nominated for a 2016 Grammy Award.

Mr. Hadelich plays on the 1723 “Ex-Kiesewetter” Stradivari violin, on loan from Clement and Karen Arrison through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

About Ludovic Morlot

The French conductor Ludovic Morlot is Music Director of the Seattle Symphony. During the 2015–2016 season Morlot and the Seattle Symphony will continue to invite their audiences to “listen boldly,” presenting a wide variety of works in concert and releasing several more recordings on the Orchestra’s label, Seattle Symphony Media. He was Chief Conductor of La Monnaie for three years (2012–2014). During this time he conducted several new productions and concert performances.

During the 2015–2016 season Morlot will return to the New York and LA Philharmonic Orchestras as well as NSO Washington. He will also conduct a subscription week with the Boston Symphony Orchestra whom he has conducted regularly in Boston and Tanglewood and recently on a tour to the west coast of America. This relationship started in 2001 when he was the Seiji Ozawa Fellowship Conductor at the Tanglewood Music Center and subsequently appointed assistant conductor for the orchestra and their Music Director James Levine (2004–07). Morlot has also conducted the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Morlot studied conducting in London and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 2014 in recognition of his significant contribution to music. He is Chair of Orchestral Conducting Studies at the University of Washington School of Music in Seattle.

About the Seattle Symphony

The Seattle Symphony is one of America's leading symphony orchestras and is internationally acclaimed for its innovative programming and extensive recording history. Under the leadership of Music Director Ludovic Morlot since September 2011, the Symphony is heard from September through July by more than 500,000 people through live performances and radio broadcasts. It performs in one of the finest modern concert halls in the world — the acoustically superb Benaroya Hall — in downtown Seattle. Its extensive education and community engagement programs reach over 65,000 children and adults each year. The Seattle Symphony has a deep commitment to new music, commissioning many works by living composers each season. The orchestra has made nearly 150 recordings and has received two Grammy Awards, 21 Grammy nominations, two Emmy Awards and numerous other accolades. In 2014 the Symphony launched its in-house recording label, Seattle Symphony Media.